


A Good Old Normal, Human Life

by fathomlessspite



Series: A Good Old Normal, Human Life [1]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005), Torchwood
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-10-03
Updated: 2010-10-03
Packaged: 2017-10-12 09:47:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/123559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fathomlessspite/pseuds/fathomlessspite
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What happens after the Doctor leaves Rose and his human counterpart behind on Pete's world?<br/>Enter Harold Saxon, Torchwood and John Hart.  Chaos ensues. (warning: image heavy)</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Good Old Normal, Human Life

**PROLOGUE**

As Rose pulled away and turned, the Doctor saw Donna shut the door to the Tardis behind her, a small smile graced her lips. He hoped his original would save her.

Rose turned at the first sound of the engines. She ran to him for the last time, as she always had. Running, running, always running... But not anymore, the Doctor had abandoned her there. Abandoned him too on this world, with all his memories of being a nine hundred year old Time Lord.

Perhaps it’s his punishment; he is the Destroyer of Worlds after all. The very worst parts of the Doctor in human packaging. Maybe the Doctor hadn’t thought it through that much. Maybe it wasn’t about confining him, or making sure Rose is happy. He probably just couldn’t stand the sight of him.

Not that it mattered. He was here with Rose, where he wanted to be. He could live with her until they were old and grey. A good old normal, human life with Rose Tyler.

And if the last echoes of the sound of his ships’ engines stirred grief in his heart more potent than that he’d felt on the last day he remembered standing on this beach, then that was just too bad.

Rose Tyler would be happy.

And he, well he’d be fine. He was always fine.

  
***

  
“We could stay with mum and dad for a while. Or do you want to look for a flat? A nice flat, in a town house or something, not an estate.”

“Oi!” Jackie shouted from the front of the jeep. “What exactly are you trying to say Rose Tyler?” she demanded. Rose rolled her eyes and shot the Doctor a grin from where she was sitting next to him in the backseat.

“Nothing, Mum. I’m just saying we could probably afford something nice is all. If we wanted, if you wanted Doctor?” she said voice pitched a little higher at the end; unsure. He supposed that in comparison to the Doctor they all knew he had been a little quiet so far.

“Sounds brilliant,” he said with a grin and a squeeze of her hand. Her answering smile was one of unabashed happiness and the wall grief in his chest faded a little behind the wish to keep that look there for as long as he could.

“He’ll need to get a job won’t he though?  He'll get bored otherwise,” Jackie said.

“No, of course I wouldn’t,” he defended quickly. “I’d have Rose,” he said, smiling at her.

“Well Rose has a job doesn’t she, what are you gonna do when she’s not there?” she said turning round and frowning at him.

“I’m sure someone will snap him up. That new PM of ours is really in to backing Torchwood and UNIT,” Pete said.

“Oh so he gets right in at the top then, doesn’t have to work his way up like the rest of us ?” Jackie huffed.

“Don’t start, mum! It’s not like he can work at the corner shop or something!”

“Oh so he’s better than us now is he?”

“No, I just think he could do more than shop work or temping or something!” Rose retorted. They continued to argue back and forth.

The Doctor stared out the window and watched the country flash by. An indignant voice in the back of his head which he ignored but couldn’t quite silence was saying ‘ _Best temp in Chiswick, 100 words per minute_ ’.

  
***

  
The Doctor and Rose stayed with Jackie whilst they hunted for somewhere to live…which was at best horrifying, but luckily only temporary. In the end they found a nice two bedroom flat in London, which was close enough to the Torchwood tower (intact and still operational in this reality) for Rose to get to for work.

They had offered the Doctor a job as well, but he couldn’t really see himself working for any branch of Torchwood in any reality and so declined. They were however useful in setting up an identity for him. They went with the tried and tested John Smith. He now had a passport, driver’s license and National Insurance number, making him one of the great many unemployed in the city.

He and Rose slotted into place together quite easily. It worked much like their relationship had before, but with slightly more romance and a lot less running for their lives. It was all frighteningly normal.

The startlingly slow pace of normal life had got to him eventually, but he had settled into it in the end. Wake up, have a bit of a morning fumble with Rose if there was time, make breakfast, watch a bit of television, have lunch, do a bit of house work, make dinner, listen to Rose recount her day, go to bed.

He still felt slightly out of place and disjointed but he tried to keep that to himself and thought that he was mostly succeeding.

It was however; much easier to get through the days when he could look forward to night when he held Rose against him and could hear the familiar echo of a double heart beat.

  
***

  
“We need to find you something to do,” Rose said at the end of their first month in the new flat.

“Hmm,” the Doctor agreed, took her spoon from her hand and got himself a spoonful of ice-cream from the small tub she was holding.

“Come on,” she poked him in the side, retrieved the spoon and dug it back in the pot. “We need to seriously brainstorm. You’re turning into a couch potato!”

“Oi! Are you calling me fat?” he said frowning. She grinned.

“Look, I just think you need to do something other than sitting around here all day,” she continued.

“I’m fine.”  He kicked his feet up onto the coffee table and flicked the television on with the remote.

“I wish you’d stop saying that!” Rose exclaimed, stood up sharply and walked over to the kitchen.

“But I am. I am fine,” he said, he turned the television back off and faced her.

“I know, but I don’t want you to just be fine. I want you to be happy, don’t I?”

He didn’t know what to say in response. It wasn’t enough that he had to put all his energy into making sure she was happy, he now had to be exuberant rather than just plain contented himself.

“Look, Dad’s heard that the Prime Minister is looking for an advisor of sorts. You know with a sort of special knowledge set, so they can liaise with Torchwood and UNIT. Just your kind of thing,” she explained as she walked back over and sat on the edge of the sofa next to him.

“I’ve not really got any work experience though have I?”

“We can vouch for you. You stopped the stars from going out after all,” she elbowed him and smiled slightly. “He’s not been much for publicity lately either and even when he was he never had any of the cabinet of his staff in front of the cameras, if that’s what you’re worried about?”

“No, I- I guess I’ll think about it,” he conceded, his hand inching toward the television remote again.

Her expression hardened for a second before she sighed and stood up, “Guess that’ll do for now. There’s a picture of him in the paper today if you wanted to have a look,” she added as she wandered back to the kitchen and started to clear up their dinner things.

The Doctor switched the television back on and flicked it onto the Discovery Channel before leaning forward over the coffee table to open the paper. He flicked through until he reached the page Rose had been talking about and choked off a noise of surprise.

The article was entitled _**'Camera Shy Prime Minister hiding from the Hoards of the Unemployed?'**_ The Doctor felt like he couldn’t breathe for a moment as he took in the photograph beneath the unimaginative headline.

“What? What is it?” He hadn’t even heard Rose walk back over.

His hand shook slightly as he ran it over the picture briefly. He looked the same, the same as the last time the Doctor had seen him, had held him in his arms as he refused to-

“Doctor!” Rose had gripped his shoulder and turned him towards her.

“That job?” he said eventually. “I’m definitely interested.”

* * *

 **WELCOME TO NUMBER TEN, MR SMITH**

“Mr Smith is it?”  
   
The Doctor paused for a moment as Tish Jones greeted him. He thought then that it may perhaps be appropriate for him to rename Pete’s World 'The World of Improbable Coincidence'.  
   
“Good morning Miss Jones,” he smiled.  
   
Tish frowned at him but did not comment on the fact he apparently knew her name. “I’m afraid Mr Saxon’s last appointment has overrun considerably and he’ll be unable to see you today,” she told him.  
   
“I don’t mind waiting,” he shrugged. “Waiting in number ten Downing Street is slightly more interesting than daytime television.”  
   
“I’m not sure if his schedule will be able to accommodate it, Mr Smith.” The Doctor took a glance around her desk and surrounding work area, it was overrun with post-it noted piles of paper and files.  
   
“Could do a bit of copying for you if you want?” he asked pointing at the nearest stack which he could see had ‘To Copy’ written on the pink sticky-note. She looked at him like he was crazy. “Really, I’ll only go home and be horribly, horribly bored,” he said with what he had been told was a winning smile.  
   
“Is this man bothering you Tish?” a voice asked from behind him. He turned and was greeted with the sight of a very tall and muscular looking dark haired man who was frowning at him. Security. Typical.  
   
“I’ll just go, don’t want to get in the way,” he said, taking a step back as he spoke.  
   
“No Jason, Mr Smith had an appointment with Mr Saxon which has been cancelled and he was offering to do my photocopying for me,” she explained, although her voice rose a little at the end as if ask a question. Likely something regarding his sanity. Perhaps it was valid.  
   
“Right,” Jason raised an eyebrow.  
   
“Oh let him,” a new voice said, wandering in with two steaming mugs in his hands, setting one down on Tish’s desk and then walking round to leaning on the other desk opposite hers. “He has higher clearance than we do, I doubt there’s anything in your photocopying that he’s not allowed to see,” the Welshman added.  
   
Ianto Jones, if the Doctor remembered correctly, it was probably best he didn’t indicate he knew Ianto’s name though, might make him look more suspicious.  
   
“Ianto Jones,” he said and held out a hand toward the Doctor. He took it. “Although, I expect you already know that,” he added with a small quirk of his mouth.  
   
“How-?”  
   
“I’m the Torchwood London liaison to the PM, I have access to all sorts of interesting information,” he smiled and took a sip of his drink.  
   
“Right, of course,” The Doctor said, hands shoved in his pockets.  
   
“Of course I know you’re not a big fan of Torchwood, but I think you’ll have to get past that if you’re to work for Mr Saxon. First time in history the institute has ever worked so closely with the prime minister or president.”  
   
“Hopefully it’s different here to where I’m from,” the Doctor said. They were giving him the benefit of the doubt; he could extend them the same courtesy.  
   
“I don’t know about that, but we’re working on it. Miss Tyler would likely refuse to work with us otherwise,” he said as he rounded his desk and sat down.   
   
“Too right,” the Doctor murmured, Ianto smiled. He focused on the screen briefly before turning back to the Doctor.   
   
“I can have a quick chat with you now if you want.  Mr Saxon would likely have asked the institute to participate in an interview at some point, might as well get it over and done with now,” he said, standing up once again. “Tish, no one is in the boardroom until three are they?”  
   
“Half past,” she said with a smile. Ianto led the Doctor toward a set of wooden double doors which marked the end of the pathway that separated his and Tish’s desks. He pulled one open, “Welcome to Number Ten, Mr Smith.”  
   
“Thank you Mr Jones.”

* * * 

“So, what did he say?” Rose asked as she sat down at the dining table next to him and took a forkful of rice.  
   
“He asked lots of questions,” The Doctor replied round a mouthful of food. “Which was a bit weird, I’m used to everyone knowing who I am.”  
   
“Yeah, bit weird isn’t it, there being a Torchwood here but no you?” Rose asked.  
   
“Oh there was a me, they just don’t know what happened to him,” the Doctor told her. He found that a little odd himself, if there was a version of him in this universe maybe it was a version not so enamoured with the human race.  
   
“You think he died?” Rose asked which had been the other, more disconcerting option he had been trying not to think about.  
   
“Maybe,” he shrugged.  
   
“So, Queen Victoria didn’t start Torchwood here after meeting you then?” Rose asked.  
   
“Apparently she did, just in slightly different circumstances,” he said and didn’t explain any further, mainly because the details Ianto had given him were vague and decidedly odd.  
   
“What else did he ask you?”  
   
“Just some questions about planets I’d been to, races of people I’ve met. I think he’s looking forward to expanding their database.”  
   
“Sounds like Ianto,” she replied with a smile.  
   
“You’ve worked with him?” the Doctor asked.  
   
“Yeah, he reports everything we do back to the prime minister so we get a lot of phone calls about completing our paperwork. He’s more of an office-bod, doesn’t go out in the field,” she explained. “What else?”  
   
“He asked me about the state of the Time Lord Empire several times,” he admitted  
   
“That’s a bit weird,” she paused. “Think they’re alive here? Might explain where the other version of you is,” she added.  
   
The Doctor shrugged, didn’t say ‘I really hope they’re not,’ out loud, but answered; “Even when they were I tended to go my own way, that wouldn’t really explain this universe’s Doctor’s mysterious absence.”  
   
“You think you’ll get it?” she asked.  
   
“Depends on what Saxon thinks,” the Doctor shrugged, and wasn’t that a meeting he was avoiding thinking about. It was somehow so much worse now that it had been cancelled once and rescheduled. More time to think about it he supposed. He still wasn’t used to having all this time on his hands, how did people fill in these in between moments when they were waiting around for things to happen?  
   
“But Ianto? He was positive, yeah? I mean even if Saxon doesn’t like you I’m sure they’ll want you for something,” she grinned.   
   
He should have probably explained to Rose, who Harold Saxon really was, or who the Doctor thought this Saxon might be; who he must be considering his appearance. He didn’t want to worry her, he justified. They were just settling in, he didn’t want to ruin it with possible trouble.  
   
“I’d rather work for Mr Saxon though, no offence but I’m not really a massive Torchwood fan.  In any reality,” he answered.  
   
“I know, I know,” she said as they stood and gathered up the dirty plates from the table and carried them into the kitchen. “I’m sure Ianto will give you a glowing recommendation,” she said with a smile.  
   
“It’s just fingers crossed that the prime minister will like me,” the Doctor shrugged as he set his plate down on the counter.  
   
“How could he _not_ like you?” Rose grinned and kissed him briefly. She pulled away and started filling the sink with water to do the washing up. “I guarantee it Doctor, Harold Saxon is going to _love_ you.”

* * *

 **SAXON AND SMITH**

If the Doctor had been expecting some kind of reaction; a thunderbolt of recognition to cross Saxon’s face, then he would have been sorely disappointed. Luckily he hadn’t been expecting that. Not even a little bit.

Because what he got was a job interview. A boring, bog standard, regular job interview. Until-

“And you say you’re from a _parallel_ universe?” Saxon asked, without looking up from the open file on the table between them.

“That’s right,” The Doctor nodded and waited patiently for Saxon to continue. Because this man did seem to be Harold Saxon, he was a little preoccupied and generally uninterested in anything The Doctor had said so far; but no hint of madness as of yet. However, they were just now getting to the interesting bit.

“And you, how did Miss Tyler put it? Stopped the stars from going out?” he asked, looking up at the Doctor and raised an eyebrow. The Doctor gave him a small and -he hoped- engaging grin.

“I contributed I guess you could say,” he agreed.

“Made their coffee did you?” he asked with a more recognisable hint of the Master’s cruel humour. The Doctor ignored it from Harold Saxon as he would have done from the Master. Saxon sighed and closed the file.

“Why do you think you’d be good at this job?” he asked. “What could you have possibly done or learnt in that parallel universe to make you worthy?” he pointed a finger at the Doctor for a moment before he lowered his hand to the table and looked at the Doctor with genuine curiosity.

“Well, there was the thing with the stars going out, and several other... incidents. There was the time I stopped a giant star shaped cocoon from destroying London, or saved Her Majesty from being killed by the Titanic,” he paused. “I guess you could say I’m well travelled.”

“Right,” Saxon drawled. “Who would you say were the greatest enemy you’ve faced?”

“I-” the Doctor wasn’t sure how to answer. He could easily name the man sitting in front of him, or the man he thought was sitting in front of him. But he didn’t think that would fit quite with what Saxon was asking. “The Daleks I suppose,” he answered after a moment. “No matter how many times you think they’re destroyed they always come back.”

“There are Daleks in your universe?” Saxon asked, leaning as far over the table as he could without actually laying on it.

“Yes, aren’t there here?” he skated over the question of how the Prime Minister would know about the Daleks.

“No, well yes there were but...” he trailed off. “There weren’t really.”

“Well that’s not very clear at all, is it?”

“There was a man, an acquaintance of mine I suppose. He sort of,” Saxon paused and sucked on the inside of his lip for a moment, “undid them. He went back and undid their entire existence after seeing the destruction they caused.”

Well that’s impossible, the Doctor thought, the paradox would tear the entire universe in two. If someone had gone back to unmake the Daleks they’d need the knowledge of the devastation the Daleks would cause in the first place, which would be gone as soon as they went back and stopped the Daleks from coming into being, so they wouldn’t be able to go back and stop them from being made. And round and round it went in the Doctors head until Saxon cleared his throat.

“How do you know all that then?” the Doctor asked eventually.

“I’m well travelled,” Saxon grinned.

“Right,” the Doctor paused. He tapped his fingers on the conference room table. A beat of four. Saxon didn’t seem to notice. The Doctor didn’t know what to think of that; whether it was a good or a bad thing.

“But the thing is. The thing is, if he erased the Daleks, assuming for now that that would even be possible in the manor you described, why do you remember them?” he asked.

Saxon grinned some more. “I like you, you’re smart. Not as smart as me obviously but you could be useful,” he added. “You’ve got the job,” he stood and walked round to the Doctor’s side of the table. “Welcome aboard Mr Smith,” he said and held out his hand.

The Doctor took it and smiled. It was warm, humanly warm; the pulse a rhythm of two. The Doctor’s smile dimmed but he didn’t let it fade entirely.

“It’s an honour Mr Saxon,” he responded.

“’Course it is,” Saxon tsk’d, already headed for the door. “Talk to Latisha, she’ll sort out your contract and find you a desk.”

“Thank you!” the Doctor said. “I look forward to working with you, Mr Saxon!” he called.

Saxon opened the doors but paused at the Doctors words. “Doesn’t everyone?” he threw over his shoulder before he walked down the corridor, past Tish at her desk, round a corner and out of sight.

The Doctor grinned for a moment and bounced on the balls of his feet. When he noticed Tish watching him through the open doors he stopped bouncing but continued grinning as he walked toward her.

“Looks like we’re going to be colleagues Miss Jones,” he said once he was standing in front of her.

“Congratulations,” she smiled up at him. “Means a bit of paperwork for me to do to get you on the system,” she said and glanced between him, the computer and her paper-littered desk.

“Want me to do some photocopying for you?” he asked. Tish laughed.

***

  
As it turned out, tradition at number ten involved taking the new guy out and getting him thoroughly drunk. And once Ianto, a stickler for the rules, had spotted him in the print room an outing had been organised and various members of Saxon’s staff invited in less than half an hour.

To begin with the Doctor had paced himself, which had resulted in large amounts of teasing. In the end he had succumbed, regardless of his concerns about the human body’s tolerance for alcohol versus a time lord’s one.

He needed to get onside with these people, to be seen as one of the team. How else would he find out what they knew about Saxon?

But also, he had kind of just wanted them to like him.

By the end of the night even Jason the suspicious security officer, was being nice to him. Evidenced in how he carried the Doctor out to a cab, deposited him into the back seat and buckled his belt.

“You’re going to need to learn how to hold you liquor, Mr Smith,” Ianto said over Jason’s shoulder.

“I’m fine,” the Doctor slurred and waved an arm around to demonstrate his point. Tish giggled.

“Make sure he gets home alright,” Ianto said to the cabby and handed over far too much money to cover the cost of the journey from the pub to Rose’s.

“You’re all wonderful!” the Doctor told them as Jason shut the door. He rolled down the window. “I can’t wait to work with you!”

“Not if that hangover lasts until Monday, Sir!” Ianto called as the cab pulled away.

When he woke up the next morning just inside the front door, with a mouthful of carpet and the sound of Rose stomping around loudly echoing painfully round his skull, the Doctor realised Ianto may have had a point.

* * *

 **ENTER THE JUDOON**

After several weeks the Doctor had managed to organise his desk pretty well. He had his in-trays, different coloured sticky notes, pens, multicoloured paperclips. What he hadn’t had yet was any real work.

In the end Ianto had taken pity on him and granted him access to the Torchwood database of known alien species and told him to document everything he knew of his universes’ inhabitants and collate it. However he wasn’t to put it in the main database as it might not correlate with this universe.

Thus the Doctor had constructed his own database based upon the Torchwood template and able to fully interface with it. You could pull up an entry in one (searched via co-ordinates) and it would give you the option of viewing the comparative entry for his universe in his new database program.

That took a couple of days.

“I’m sure it will pick up soon,” Rose said one evening as she scraped burnt baked beans off the bottom of a pan. “There can’t be galactic crises every other day.”

“But I could do something else,” The Doctor complained. “I’m smarter than all the humans he’s got working for him.”

“The humans? I think you’ll find you’re one of us lowly human beings now,” she said tightly as she scrubbed harder.

“Not really, bigger brain for one; couldn’t hold that big ol’ time lord memory otherwise. I could probably do Tish’s job in my sleep, Ianto’s in the bath and Jason’s, well-”

“Enough!” Rose snapped and threw the pan into the sink. Suds flew everywhere, some landed in her hair and on her face. She brushed them away in irritation. “If you’re gonna fit in here you can’t just go around saying you’re all superior to everyone else! You’re human, just like Tish and Ianto, and Jason and me.”

“That doesn’t mean I can’t be smarter though, Rose. And it’s not like I can help it.”

She looked at him for a moment and then closed her eyes briefly, “Sometimes I wonder if my mum’s right about you, you know,” she said and wandered off in the direction of their makeshift study.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he demanded. She didn’t answer.

He turned back to the sink and went about using his big old time lord brain to remove the burnt food from the bottom of the saucepan.

  
“We’ve got aliens in a local Country Park,” Ianto said the next morning as the Doctor strolled in.

“What kind?” he asked as he leant on his desk.

Ianto looked at him for a moment, silently asking him to suspend his disbelief for the next few minutes, “Reports coming in say they’re rhino’s; walking, talking rhinoceroses.”

“Judoon.”

“You know them?”

“They’re in the database,” the Doctor replied and indicated his computer with a tilt of his head.

“It’d take me years to read that entire thing,” Ianto shook his head. “You’re coming with me then,” he said decisively.

“Really?” the Doctor grinned and followed Ianto through the halls of Number Ten, down several flights of stairs and through several security locked doors to a room the Doctor had never entered before. It was lined with metal draws along one side of the room.

Ianto stepped up to a small one and touched it briefly, it slid open. He pulled out a familiar looking wrist-strap and secured it round his wrist.

“Where did you get that?” The Doctor frowned.

“We confiscated it from a Time Agent, we also had him in confinement but he disappeared before we could question him,” Ianto explained.

“His name wasn’t Jack was it?”

“No, John. Why do you ask?”

“No reason,” the Doctor shrugged. “Is that how we’re getting there then?”

“The rest of the team are onsite, they’re just waiting for you, Sir,” Ianto told him. The Doctor stepped forward and wrapped his hand around Ianto’s wrist. “Hold on!”

He did.

* * *

It turned out the Judoon were there on orders from the Shadow Proclamation to search the woods of Black Forest Park, Earth for some sort of item of significant cultural value. However, they had yet to determine exactly what the artefact was.

“The problem is,” The Doctor told Ianto in an undertone, “that lethal force is allowed in the recovery of items of cultural value.”

“Well whose bloody stupid rule is that?” another man interrupted.

“Mr Smith, this is Owen Harper. Owen this is John Smith,” Ianto introduced.

“Pleasure to meet you, as I was saying...” Owen waved his hand.

“The Shadow Proclamation, clause,” he paused as his mind blanked. “Three hundered and something. I think,” he frowned.

“Fantastic,” Owen rolled his eyes as a jeep pulled up behind them.

“Bout time you turned up Tyler!” Owen called as Rose jumped out of the car. “Been swanning around with your new fella?” he asked as she walked over to them.

“Seems he was swanning around with you guys,” she said and flashed the Doctor a quick smile before she glanced over to where the Judoon were still trampling around the woods.

“Judoon.”

“Yep.”

“Huh.”

“It seems they’re after some sort of artefact,” Ianto explained.

“And they’re allowed to gank us all to get to it,” Owen added.

“Any idea what-?” she was interrupted by the ground shaking beneath them as all the Judoon congregated around one area not too far from them.

“I think they found something,” Owen said dryly as they all walked closer to get a better look.

Not surprisingly they couldn’t see past the hoards of Judoon very well. From what the Doctor could translate it was a chest of some kind. The Judoon debated amongst themselves for a moment whether or not to open it, in order to verify its contents.

“What are they-?” Rose began, but the Doctor ssh’d her. They’d decided to open the chest. As soon as he heard the first lock break a rush of awareness swept down his spine, even in his very human body he recognised it for what it was.

He stood up straight and pulled Ianto with him by the wrist so that he stood just behind the Doctor.

“Stop!” he commanded. As one the mass of Judoon turned to face him, those with weapons drew them and aimed.

“Oh great,” Owen muttered.

“As per Article Seventeen of the Shadow Proclamation I demand you turn over those artefacts to me. As a member of the race they belong to and the only one you’ll find anywhere round here, I claim the contents of that chest as mine.”

One of the Judoon lowered their weapon, it stepped forward and pullied out a scanner which it pointed at the Doctor.  The Doctor blinked into the blue light for a moment before it beeped and the Judoon lowered it.

“Human and Time Lord DNA,” it intoned. “Your claim is valid.”

Within seconds the Judoon had disappeared in several flashes of light. Apparently the Judoon in this universe were a little more technologically advanced, enough to save them the walk to and from their ship anyway.

“Well, that was easy,” Owen clapped his hands together. “So, part Time Lord then? Bit more special than you look, eh?”

“Why didn’t you say something?” Rose asked. “I thought you were human now.”

“Mostly,” the Doctor said, not taking his eyes of the chest and walking forward as he answered.

“Mostly?” she asked.

“It makes sense, I doubt a normal human brain could handle all that information, or work that quickly,” Ianto said as he followed the Doctor toward the chest.

“So you really are better than the rest of us then,” she said, the Doctor could just imagine the twist of her mouth as she spoke, but he still only had eyes for the chest in front of him. Gallifreyan symbols were etched onto the edges, the lid open a fraction.

“Not better, different,” he answered as he ran his fingers over the writing.

“What is it?” Owen asked.

The Doctor opened the lid just far enough so that he could peer inside and quickly snapped it shut again. “Something we need to destroy as soon as possible.”

“I don’t think so Mr Smith,” a familiar voice said. When The Doctor turned he was greeted with the sight of Saxon as he strode toward them.

“I’m sorry sir, I don’t think you quite understand-” the Doctor began.

“Oh I understand perfectly, Mr Smith,” Saxon drawled as he drew to a halt in the Doctors personal space. He glanced down at the box beside them. “As do you, apparently,” he added and pressed his finger into the Doctor’s chest.

“Yeah,” the Doctor breathed.

“Yeah," he mimicked.  "I think we need to have a little chat you and I, don’t you?” Saxon asked a hint of danger in his smile.

He turned swiftly and headed toward the dirt road where the Doctor could see his driver waited by a car.

“Ianto!” Saxon called back. “Get that lot packed up, put it in the securest room we have, then triple the security on that room!”

“Yes, sir,” Ianto replied, having already reached for his phone.

“Mr Smith!” Saxon called from where he now held the door open to the car.

“Wait,” Rose grabbed his arm as he started to walk. “What are you going to tell him?” she asked.

“You mean what am I going to tell him that I haven’t told you?”

“No, that’s not what I meant,” she began.

“Tick tock, John! You can talk to your little girlfriend later; I don’t have time for this!”

The Doctor pulled his arm from Rose’s grip and headed up toward the car. “Sorry Mr Saxon,” he said as he ducked his head down and climbed into the back of the car.

“No matter, it didn’t take too much to pry you away from her did it?” he smiled briefly. The Doctor stuck to his policy of not rising to the bait. “We’ll wait until we get back home to conduct our conversation, I think,” he said and pulled out a palm pilot. The Doctor caught a flash of the screen reflected in the window. Solitaire. He grinned.

“Sounds good,” the Doctor responded, he glanced out of the window,not quite sure what to expect next. His stomach clenched with a familiar excited anticipation of which he had almost forgotten the feeling.

“Oh it’s going to be good, I’m sure of that.”

* * *

 **A GOOD EXPOSITIONAL EXPLANATION**

Once he had locked them in his study Saxon circled the Doctor and asked, "So, Time Lord DNA?"

“A little,” the Doctor admitted. “You?” he risked adding. Saxon paused for a moment; he looked surprised, before he continued.

“We’re talking about you now, John,” he said, as he stopped in front of him; a hairsbreadth away. The Doctor didn’t move, didn’t take a breath as Saxon reached forward and placed a hand on first the left side of his chest, then the right. “One heart.”  He reached down and took one of the Doctor’s hands. “Human body temperature.”

“Same as you,” the Doctor said in response. Saxon’s eyes snapped up from their study of the Doctor’s hands.

“Not exactly the same as me, I’d wager,” he frowned but didn’t step back. “You mentioned that you knew the Doctor, in your reality. That you had travelled with him.”

“Yes.” It wasn’t a lie after all.

“What are you then?” Saxon leaned impossibly closer and squinted at the Doctor’s features. “His child? Grandchild? Some sort of human – Time Lord half breed,” he said with a slight curl to his lip.  He took the Doctor’s chin between his fingers in a harsh grip, “Tell me.”  Saxon's eyes bore into the Doctor’s with all the intensity of the Master behind them.

“It’s complicated,” the Doctor breathed.

“I’m an intelligent man Mr Smith,” Saxon said sharply.

“Why don’t you let me go,” the Doctor said, he reached a hand up and tugged Saxon’s own away from him, “And I’ll explain?”

Saxon nodded, retreated to his desk and sat on the top. That was not what the Doctor had intended, but perhaps it was for the best. Distractions always detracted from a good expositional explanation after all.

The Doctor ran a hand through his hair. “It’s kind of a long-”

“Get on with it,” Saxon snapped. The Master snapped? The Doctor still wasn’t sure enough to commit to changing pronouns just yet.

“Right, so. The Doctor, there, he had his hand chopped off in a fight,” he began.

“What on Earth has that got to do with anything?” Saxon complained, arms crossed, glare in place.

“I’ll get there,” the Doctor said in irritation.

“Fine, fine. I’ll just make myself comfortable then, shall I?” And he did, pulled himself up on to the desk so he was sitting cross legged.

“It went missing for while, but he found it, kept it on the Tardis. And then he was shot, by a Dalek. He started to regenerate, but the hand absorbed most of the energy, so he healed but didn’t change,” he paused.

“That’s ridiculous,” Saxon scoffed. “How did a hand absorb all that?”

“Exactly, so there were a lot of other things going on, but basically the Doctor’s then companion happened to be trapped in the Tardis alone with this hand.”

“And let me guess, the ape got in the way somehow?”

“Hey, her name was Donna and she was bloody brilliant! Best temp in Chiswick!” he grinned and waggled his fingers miming typing. “Anyway, yeah there was a bit of turbulence; she touched the hand and bang! Instantaneous biological meta crisis!”

“And bang, you,” Saxon said with a frown. “You’re the Doctor,” he said slowly. “The Doctor’s hand,” he added as an afterthought.

“Well, with just the right amount of Donna Noble mixed in,” he answered.

“Can you regenerate?” he asked.

“No, I’m all human,” he spread his arms. Saxon jumped off the desk full of sudden frenetic energy.

“This is not good, exile was good enough for me but you,” he paused and prodded the Doctor in the sternum. “You, they’ll want dead.”

“Who? What have I done?” the Doctor demanded.

“The time Lords! The High Council! Everyone!” Saxon spat. “And you, you tore the universe in two!”

“I did not!”

“Did too!”

“Did n- look we could do this all day, if you just explain. They’re alive?”

“Who?”

“The Time Lords, they’re alive here? Gallifrey’s intact?”

“Yes, all of them, unfortunately,” he muttered.

“And there were never any Dalek’s? No war, which means, they were never driven to...” the Doctor trailed off and grinned. “They’re how they’re supposed to be, how I remember them.”

“Oh God, you’re not going to cry or something are you?”

“In my universe they’re all gone. I had to end it, I used the Moment, they’re all gone,” he explained haltingly.

“Time-lock?” The Doctor nodded. “Clever. Well they’re all here and they aren’t going to be happy to see you.”

“Why, what did the Doctor do here?”

“He went back, he undid the Daleks, stopped them from being created.”

“I was ordered to do that, I failed though. And even if I hadn’t the paradox-”

“Exactly! You had to know about the Dalek’s to go and undo them. But if you undid them you wouldn’t know about them. Big round circle, we looped round and round, the universe started splitting in two. Time wanted you to choose something else, to escape the loop, but you as ever were too stubborn!” Saxon laughed. “Time settled on another choice, started pulling us in that direction. In your direction.”

“A universe with Dalek’s, the Time War and a conclusion where all Time Lords die,” the Doctor answered, catching on.

“And they didn’t like that, did they?”

“How-?”

“They let the split happen, two separate universes in parallel with one another. Identical but for one act, tied together by one man’s decision.”

“But the paradox - how is this universe stable?”

“Because it is connected to the other where the Doctor’s decision meant he remembers the Daleks, through a series of rifts in space and time.”

“Cardiff,” The Doctor breathed. “There was a gauntlet. It came through the rift there.”

“I do believe one of our colleagues lost her glove in a tussle with a travelling salesman on this little planet half a century or so back.”

The Doctor dropped into one of the chairs in front of Saxon’s desk and put his head in his hands. “It shouldn’t be possible,” he murmured. An entire universe with no Dalek’s, no Time War, at the expense of his. It was unfair; brilliant but completely impossible.

“We could work it through, figure it out. Do the math. If you wanted.” The Doctor glanced up; Saxon was inspecting his fingernails, seemingly nonchalant. The Doctor grinned and held out his hand. The Master seized it in his and pulled him from the chair.

“Come on,” he said and led the Doctor from the room.

* * *

 **EXTREME PICTIONARY AND A BIT OF SNOGGING**

Rose chewed on her lip as Ianto led her through number ten Downing Street. She hadn’t seen the Doctor since the Prime Minister had driven him away yesterday morning.

“I’m sure he’s fine,” Ianto reassured her. “I doubt Mr Saxon has done anything rash. Although that wouldn’t be completely out of character,” he added.

“Thanks.” She rolled her eyes.

“Tish,” Ianto greeted the woman whose desk they had stopped in front of. “Have you seen-?” He trailed off at the sound of a loud crash coming from the meeting room.

“They’ve not let anyone in there since yesterday lunch time,” she said in hushed tones.

“Saxon?” Ianto asked.

“And John,” Tish nodded. “Stuff has been brought up though.”

“What kind of stuff?” Rose asked, frowning at the closed heavy wooden doors.

“White boards, pens, lots of paper,” she told them. They paused as the sound of muffled shouting drifted under the door to them.

“I see,” Ianto said with a nod. “There’s only one thing it can be then.”

“What?” Rose demanded.

“Extreme Pictionary,” he answered dryly.

“Oh for God’s sake,” she muttered and strode to the doors.

“Miss Tyler, you can’t!” Tish exclaimed.

“Like hell I can’t,” she snapped and pulled the doors open.

There were nearing ten white boards around the room, covered in a combination of English and something vaguely circular and familiar. Sheets of paper littered the table in the centre, and the floor.

“You can’t just skip past that bit!” Saxon was shouting at the Doctor from where he stood, hands braced on the table.

“We’ll figure it out later,” the Doctor said, his tone dismissive as he waved the marker pen he was holding and turned back to one of the white boards.

“No wonder they executed you if this was your approach to the laws of space and time!” Saxon responded and walked toward the Doctor.

“Hang on, executed?! And you’re a fine one to talk,” he paused, “Executed?!”

Saxon laughed and pulled the board marker out of the Doctor’s hand. The Doctor attempted to snatch it back and Rose watched in disbelief as Saxon slapped his hands away sharply.

Ianto cleared his throat. Both their heads snapped round, although their hands and arms remained entangled from their fight for the pen.

“Rose!” The Doctor squeaked and dropped the Master’s wrists and the pen.

“Do you have any idea what the time is?” she asked.

“Er-” he scrabbled at his shirt sleeve and lifted it up only to find a bare wrist. His eyes flittered to Saxon for a moment before they focused back on to Rose. “Dinner time?”

Rose rolled her eyes.

“Would you like me to get breakfast sent up, sir?” Ianto spoke up from behind her.

“Yes please Ianto, I am rather hungry now that you mention it. I’d wager John, like myself is still not quite used to having to eat as often as you lot do,” he added.

Ianto’s face showed a brief flicker of surprise which he quickly suppressed. “No sir, I’ll be back with breakfast,” he said before he backed out of the room.

“What’s going on?” Rose asked the Doctor. The Doctor however didn’t seem to hear her, focused as he was on _glaring_ at Saxon, who was bouncing on his toes managing to look both innocent and smug simultaneously. “Oi!” she shouted. His head snapped round to face her and he blinked rapidly as if trying to clear his head.

“Right, sorry. I guess I should introduce you?” he pondered.

“Funnily enough I already know the Prime Minister of Great Britain,” she answered as she walked to the nearest white board and frowned at it. “What’s all this then?”

“Something completely beyond your feeble comprehension,” Saxon answered.

“Looks familiar,” she added, having completely ignored Saxon’s comment.

“It should, it’s Gallifreyan,” the Doctor told her. “You recognise it from the Tardis.” He walked over and stood behind her. “These are equations, calculations. It’s a bit of a complicated story.”

“So tell me,” she turned round and frowned at him.

“Okay, I don’t really know where to-”

“The Time Lords,” Saxon said, no longer looking smug or amused or sarcastic or any number of the irritating expressions he had held since Rose had entered the room.

“What?” The Doctor asked, puzzled.

“Start with the Time Lords,” Saxon rolled his eyes. “Idiot,” he added.

“Shut up,” the Doctor snapped in response before turning back to her. “The Time Lords are alive here, in this universe. Their Doctor went back and undid the Dalek’s before they were ever created...”

Rose listened as he explained the paradox and how the Time Lords hadn’t liked the alternative outcome. How they’d let the Doctor literally _split the universe in two_ to avoid their own destruction.

“Thing is we couldn’t figure out how it was possible, how it’s all stable and they don’t collapse into each other,” the Doctor explained.

“So you pulled an all-nighter to do the math?” she asked incredulously. God, he was such a geek.

“Yeah, we’ve got a theory but-”

“We need some better equipment than we have available to scan the rifts,” Saxon put in from where he’d been sitting on the edge of the table watching them.

“Like the Tardis’ sensors,” the Doctor said.

“You don’t have your Universe’s Tardis by any chance do you?” Saxon asked.

“Course not,” the Doctor said with a roll of his eyes.

“But-?” Saxon grinned and took a step toward them. Rose frowned.

“But what?” the Doctor asked, a far too innocent expression in place.

“Mr Smith, you can’t lie to me and you know it,” Saxon stopped inside the Doctor’s personal space and waited expectantly.

“I’ve got a piece,” the Doctor relented.

“A piece of what?” she asked. Out of the corner of her eyes she saw Saxon’s smile widen. She may not know exactly what was going on, but she did not like expression one bit.

“A piece of the Tardis. A fragment of coral,” he turned and told Saxon.

Saxon’s grin was almost maniacal, “Brilliant,” he said and before Rose could blink he had the Doctor by the collar and was snogging him senseless.

She had a brief flashback several years to when she had watched through her own eyes as Cassandra had used her body to do to the Doctor what Saxon was currently. The Doctor’s face had shown a combination of justifiable shock but also pleasure, much as it did now.

Rose closed her eyes for a second. She missed their parting as when she opened them Saxon was headed to the back of the room.

The Doctor had collapsed against the table and was gasping, “What-?” he managed.

“Where is it?” Saxon demanded, now returned to them with a mobile phone in hand.

“I, what?” the Doctor asked.

“This bit of the Tardis you apparently have,” Rose bit out. The Doctor finally looked at her and his eyes widened.

“It’s in my coat, I always keep it with me,” he answered, didn't take his eyes off of her. He didn’t look guilty, or apologetic. He didn’t give her the ‘what did that crazy person do that for?’ look. He just looked caught.

Rose turned away and watched Saxon root around in the Doctor’s coat pocket, which had been draped over one of the chairs. He let out a noise of triumph and pulled out a small piece of coral, it glimmered like the sunlight was catching it even thought it was in Saxon’s shadow.

Saxon started to walk toward the exit, he handed the Doctor his coat and snagged his wrist on the way past and pulled him after him.

“We’re getting off this rock,” he declared just as the doors were thrown open and Ianto backed up inside, a gun held to his head by a man Rose vaguely recognised.

“Oh you’re not going anywhere,” the man said. “None of us are.”

“And who the hell are you?” Saxon demanded.  He dropped the Doctors wrist and crossed his arms.

“This is Captain John Hart,” Ianto growled.

“Who said you could talk, _Eye Candy_?” Hart growled back and pushed the barrel of the gun harder against Ianto’s head.

“And why are you going to stop us from leaving Captain?” the Doctor asked.

“I’m not going to stop you,” Hart said and lowered his gun. “The Time Lords are.”

* * *

 **NOT THE SLOW PATH**

“What?!” The Master asked as Captain Hart kicked the doors shut behind him.

“Yeah, apparently the Judoon didn’t like it when this idiot,” he pointed at the Doctor with his gun, “Stole their prize from underneath their noses. So they went and told on him didn’t they?”

The Master swore and ran his hand through his hair. The Doctor watched, distracted for a moment by the movement.

“I didn’t think the Time Lords were hostile?” Ianto asked.

“They’re just selective with their hostilities,” the Master said with a grimace that betrayed his experience of that selectivity.

“What’s the problem?” The Doctor asked. “They exiled you here; they know that you’re on Earth.”

The Master turned round to face him and the Doctor ignored the sharp burst of excitement he felt when their eyes met. Rose was two feet away for crying out loud. She was two feet away and had very recently witnessed him and the Master-

“They don’t know I’m bloody Prime Minister of Great Britain,” the Master interrupted the Doctor’s flow of thoughts. “I doubt they’d approve.”

“I think they’ll probably be more interested in him,” Hart interrupted and gestured with his gun.

“What would they want with the Doctor?” Rose asked. The Doctor winced.

“The who now?” Hart asked slowly.

“You were scraping the bottom of the barrel with this one weren’t you?” the Master hissed at the Doctor.

“Oh this just gets better and better. I thought he was supposed to be dead!”

“He is,” the Master told him. “Alternate, very human, version.”

“Interesting,” Hart nodded and looked over him with eyes that felt like they were calculating the Doctor’s price on the intergalactic black market.

“Why are you telling us this?” Ianto asked, the suspicion in his tone sounded like it was born of previously dealings with Captain Hart.

“At the moment I appear to be stranded on this planet,” he threw a glare at Ianto, and the Doctor recalled the wrist strap Ianto had used the yesterday. “And if the stories are true, a man like the Master wouldn’t be without a back-up plan for situations such as these.”

“You’re right, and the plan just got a lot better,” he said whilst he tossed the coral from one hand to the other. “But we need to do something before we make our retreat.”

“If it guarantees my passage out of here, I’m in.”

“I’ll give you your transportation device, I’ll even give you a lift if you want,” the Master smiled. “We need to locate my prison guard, the man they sent to keep an eye on me, lax job though he appears to have done.”

“And then what?” the Doctor asked, worried that he wouldn’t like the answer.

“Don’t worry I’m not going to kill him. He’s got something that belongs to me; we need to steal it back.”

“What is it?” Hart asked.

“A watch, a silver fob watch.”

* * *

“What’s this watch thing really then?” Rose asked him in the car on the way to Torchwood’s London headquarters. Ianto and the Master were riding in the Prime Ministers car, John Hart with them.

“There’s a device, called a chameleon arch which the Time Lords developed. Basically it can make a Time Lord human. It usually makes you forget who you are though," the Doctor frowned.

“So how come he can remember?” She asked, her fingers tapped on the steering wheel as they stopped at a red traffic light.

“I’m not sure. I suppose it wouldn’t be much of a punishment to strand him on Earth and make him human if he couldn’t remember ever being anything else.”

There was an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes.

“Look, Rose I-”

“Don’t,” she cut him off. “This probably isn’t the best time to talk about, things.”

“But-”

“Why was he so excited about that bit of coral stuff?” she spoke over him.

“I don’t know,” he said and slumped into his seat a bit. “I suppose he might have a Tardis hidden away somewhere, or some parts or one anyway. The coral would be helpful in repairing any ship really.”

“If he did have a ship, would you-,” she paused and turned away to look out of the car door window. “Would you go with him?”

Of course he would, there was no question. But he couldn’t tell her that, “Rose...”

“It’s okay, I’d understand,” she said and glanced back at him with glistening but hard eyes.

“The Doctor left me here so you could get your happily ever after,” he began. “He wanted me to stay with you, make you happy.”

“He wanted you to be happy too,” she argued.

He snorted, “He couldn’t stand the sight of me Rose. But that’s not the point. He didn’t understand what he was doing, he couldn’t possible have understood what it’d be like to _take the slow path_.” He caught her wince at the phrase and wished he’d chosen another.

“You’ll get used to it. I managed to adjust,” she said seriously.

“Rose you only travelled with the Doctor for a few years, before that all you’d known was this kind of life. It’s been centuries for me, since I was a child. We hated it even then, the Master and I. Couldn’t wait to get out there and see it all.”

He almost smiled at the memory. Except it wasn’t really his experience he was remembering, the Master was right he was some kind of hideous half breed; but even worse than that all he had was another man’s memories. Another man’s memories which attached him inextricably to the woman beside him but at the same time made him want to run as far and as fast as he could.

“You’ve know him since you were kids?” Rose asked quietly.

“Yeah,” he answered. “I love you Rose, I do,” he said earnestly, watching as a tear escaped and trailed its way down her cheek. “But the longer I’m here with you, the longer I live like this, the worse it’s going to get. If he can take me away I should go, you wouldn’t be happy with me the way I am, the man I’d be.”

She was quiet for a few minutes as she drove the car down a side turning toward a parking garage.

“I’m sorry,” he said into the stillness.

“I know,” she said and gave him a shaky smile. They waited as a metal shutter rose to give them admittance. “You’ll come and visit though?” she asked eventually.

He looked at her in surprise as they followed the other car into the large building. “You’d want me to?”

“Promise,” she told him as they parked the car.

“I promise.” The shutters closed behind them with a clatter.

“Good, come on,” she said and got out of the car and headed toward the others. He followed her towards a lift that the rest of their party were congregated in. Ianto had held the door open for them.

She grabbed his hand and squeezed it for a moment; he managed to squeeze it back before she dropped it and stepped into the lift.

* * *

 **OBSERVATION STATION**

“What are we doing?” John whispered into Ianto’s ear, the Doctor watched with a grin as Ianto batted him away in irritation.

“We’re searching for the Time Lords you say are out there,” he said with a glare. “I think,” he added and peered over the Master’s shoulder at the screen of the computer the Master was sat at.

The Doctor glanced over to where Rose satat a nearby work station. She was watching the Master avidly; the Doctor wondered how much of this was genuine interest or an exercise in avoiding looking at the Doctor.

At a flicker of more enthusiastic interest on her face the Doctor turned back to the others where the Master had begun to rummage in his coat pockets, cursing. A noise of triumph and he pulled out a device that made the Doctor wince.

Despite barely even glancing in his direction Rose seemed to notice his reaction. “What’s that?” she asked suspiciously, she shifted in her seat in an effort to see what the Master was holding.

“A laser screwdriver,” the Doctor answered darkly. The Master span in his chair to face them and held the screw driver out.

“Sonic, actually.”

The Doctor stepped forward and took it out of the Masters outreached hand. He weighted it in his hand, it felt...familiar. “How?”

“I was his last request,” he said with an empty smile, he took the sonic screwdriver back and directed it at the computer. “They’d already let him say goodbye to all his family,” he continued. “And he asked for me. He told me everything, why he did what he did, showed me,” the Master tapped his head with his fingers. “And he gave me this,” he said with a grin as the computer screen filled with Gallifreyan text.

“So you saw it all, the war and the Dalek’s,” the Doctor said.  He ignored Rose’s eyes on him, on both of them.

“Yes, I suppose he wanted someone to remember.”

“It’s good, that you were there. If it was me, I mean it was sort of, but not really, I would...” the Doctor trailed off and ran a hand through the back of his hair.

“Are you done?” the Master asked over his shoulder with a raised eyebrow.

“I guess,” the Doctor shrugged.

“Good, because I’ve found them.”

“Where?” Hart demanded.

“Hang on,” the Master grumbled as the screen zoomed in progressively until they were on a close up of central London, then the House of Parliament, then:

“Victoria Tower Park,” Ianto said aloud.

“This could be a problem,” the Master said as the screen froze on an image of the Buxton Memorial Fountain, Victoria Tower and the Houses of Parliament visible beyond it.

“Why?” the Doctor asked with a frown.

“It’s awfully close to our transportation,” he chewed on his lower lip and then rapped the sonic screwdriver against it.

“You’ve got a Tardis, in Victoria Park?” Rose questioned.

“No. It’s on Parliament Square.”

“Fantastic,” John muttered. Ianto kicked him.

“I’ve parked worse places,” the Doctor offered. The Master snorted. “And you weren’t to know.”

“He wasn’t to know that someone might see or notice his spaceship if he parked it in Parliament Square?” Ianto asked dryly. The Master glared at him. “Sorry sir.”

“It’s time for a plan,” the Master said and clapped his hands together. They stared back blankly. “Anyone?”

“Sorry, Mr Saxon, sir. But a plan to do what exactly?” Ianto asked.

“To get us to the Tardis,” the Doctor offered.

“To fix the Tardis,” the Master held up the piece of coral.

“Avoid the Time Lords,” Hart put in.

“But still manage to get the fob watch,” the Doctor added.

“And to get Mr Smith and myself the hell off of this planet,” the Master concluded. Ianto glanced at Rose, the Doctor followed; she looked a little closed down but in one piece. She was tough, she’d be fine. He needed for her to be fine.

“Right, I suppose, a distraction of some kind then?” Ianto suggested.

“Excellent, what kind of distraction?” he replied, eyes bright with excitement.

“No explosions, or maiming or killing of innocents bystanders,” the Doctor told him.

“Really?” The Master pouted.

“Really.”

“Fine. So what other kind of distraction can we engineer?”

“I know just the thing,” Hart smirked.

***

Ianto groaned as Hart threw him against the side of the fountain. “I hate you,” he muttered.

“You love it, eye candy,” John murmured in response. The sound was almost lost, what with how it was muffled by _Ianto’s neck_.

“No, I’m pretty sure it’s hate,” Ianto replied, biting back a groan as John began to mouth along his jaw.

“Play along sweetheart, you might enjoy yourself,” he said and slid a hand under Ianto’s shirt and pulled him closer.

“C’mon guys, you can’t do that here,” a voice interrupted a few minutes later.

Once Hart had pulled back Ianto blinked into the face of Jason Sterling, one of the security officers at Number Ten.

“Mr Jones!”

“Let us in,” Hart murmured, having pulled his gun on Jason and obscured it from the view of any passersby with the edges of his jacket.

“Mr Jones, what is he-?” Jason began.

“Do what he says,” Ianto spoke over him.

When they stumbled in the door (which had been hidden by something Jason had informed them was a perception filter) Ianto blinked around. Wall to wall white, the floors, the ceiling, the walls. The sterile feeling was so shocking that it took him a moment to realise it was bigger on the inside.

“Give us the watch,” John growled at Jason, they stood further inside that Ianto, near a couple of consoles.

“What watch?” Jason asked and edged backwards. Hart rolled his eyes and glanced back at Ianto who gave a short, sharp nod to the console Jason was edging back toward.

“Come here,” Hart said; he walked forward and grabbed Jason by the front of his shirt to pull him into a clear space.

“Are you a Time Lord then, Jason?” Ianto asked. Jason straightened up and rolled his shoulders back.

“Hired hand.”

“So that’s a no then.”

“So that means if I shoot you, it’ll kill you then. Permanently,” Hart said with a grin.

“Whose Tardis is this?” Ianto asked.

“Answer him,” Hart snapped after a few seconds of silence, he positioned the gun with exaggerated care just under Jason’s jaw.

“It’s like an observation post, it doesn’t belong to anyone,” Jason said quickly.

“So they’re not here yet then, the Time Lords? They’re not on Earth?” Jason shook his head. “But they are on their way. How long until they get here?” Ianto asked.

When Jason paused too long, Hart span the gun round and used the butt of it to hit the side of Jason’s face. “How long?” Hart said calmly as Jason cried out in pain.

“Today, they said today. By midnight,” he added when it looked as if Hart would hit him again.

“The watch?” Ianto asked. When Jason looked up tIanto could see that blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.

“Over there,” he gestured. Ianto wandered over to a set of shelves recessed into the wall. They were covered in various objects, few of which Ianto could identify. He spotted the watch sitting innocuously on the third shelf down; he quickly pocketed it and turned round.

Jason lay slumped on the ground at Hart’s feet, who tucked something back into his jacket.

“What did you do to him?” Ianto frowned.

“Knocked him out, it’ll last for twenty four hours. Come on,” he said and walked toward the door.

He stood still for a moment and glanced around. He was in an alien ship, he’d just aided a known criminal in assault and they were stealing a piece of alien technology to take back to the alien Prime Minister.

“Why am I helping you again?” he frowned, he felt genuinely confused. Surely he should have had these concerns before, but all he couldn’t remember-

“You’re not helping me, you’re helping the Master,” Hart frowned at him.

“But he’s an alien,” Ianto said.

“So you’re just going to let him die? Doesn’t seem much like you,” Hart said gruffly and to his boots.

“No, I guess not. Let’s go,” he said. Hart looked relieved as he turned to lead Ianto out.

“Gimme you’re phone then,” he said once they were back in the park and headed back to the road. It was easier to hand it over than ask questions so Ianto did. Hart typed out a quick message before he handed it back.

As Hart strode ahead, Ianto quickly checked his Sentbox. The most recent message had been sent to the recently added contact ‘HS’. ‘ _Whatever hypno-crap you pulled on Jones is wearing off. We’re coming back to you now_.’

Ianto glowered at Hart’s back, adjusted his gun in its holster under his suit jacket and followed him out of the park.

* * *

 **MEND YOUR WAYS**

 _‘Whatever hypno-crap you pulled on Jones is wearing off. We’re coming back to you now.’_

The Doctor glared at the screen of the phone he had just pulled out of the Master’s coat pocket, which had been flung on the sofa seat next to where the Doctor sat once the Master had discovered some of the diagnostic equipment Torchwood London had stashed away.

The Master had immediately begun to study the coral to make sure it was ready to be implanted into his Tardis. The Doctor got up and stalked over to where the Master was working.

“What’ve you done to Ianto?” he demanded and thrust the phone under the Masters’ nose. Rose glanced over at them from another work station but didn’t intervene.

“Nothing,” the Master snapped, he waved the Doctor’s hand out of the way.

“Don’t lie to me,” he responded through gritted teeth. If he was going to do this, if he was going to run away following the Master then he couldn’t take being lied to.

The Master looked up, really looked at the Doctor’s face and sighed in resignation. He stood up. grabbed the doctor’s wrist and dragged him toward a board room, one wall of which was entirely made of glass.

“Sit,” the Master ordered. The Doctor did as he was told, the Master stayed standing. “I didn’t _do_ anything, honestly.”

“That message-”

“Look I’ve always been a little...” he trailed off.

“Hypnotic?” the Doctor suggested, flashing briefly back to a dark warehouse where he’d sat with Jack and Martha, recounting old memories and savouring the taste of fish and chips. He wondered what they’d think if they saw him now.

“I was going to say skilled at persuasion,” the Master smirked. “But that works too. Look people tend to do what I ask with minimal coercion. Ianto _wanted_ to help, you were and Miss Tyler is, albeit reluctantly; but all his training was telling him it’s a bad idea. I was rather emphatic when I asked him to help out, it pushed him in to the right direction,” the Master shrugged.

“You can’t just-” the Doctor began angrily.

“Who’s to say he wouldn’t have chosen to help eventually anyway? And to be honest I didn’t really think it’d work, stuck in this primitive body as I am,” he said, arms spread wide.

The Doctor scrubbed a hand across his face and through his hair. “Don’t do it again,” he said quietly.

“You don’t tell me what to do,” the Master responded, voice suddenly cold. “Have you forgotten who we are? You are just a pathetic little human and I, I am your Master.”

“By choice, I’m choosing to go with you,” the Doctor answered, locking eyes with the Master. “I can’t travel with you; I can’t be with you if you’re going to do things like that. Especially without telling me,” he added. The Master didn’t answer but he inclined his head slightly. The Doctor knew the Master had understood; whether he’d do as asked was another matter.

At least he’d said it; his terms were on the table.

The Master smiled suddenly, pulled out the chair next to the Doctor’s and slid it right next to his so the arms were pressing together. “Are you excited, John?” he asked.

“Excited?” the Doctor asked, thrown by the name use for a moment. “About what?”

“About coming with me. Travelling the stars _with me_ ,” he said with a grin and leant closer.

“Yes, yes of course,” he whispered. He inhaled sharply as the Master leaned his forehead against the side of the Doctor’s own.

“No need to own it,” the Master muttered, eyes closed and seemingly to himself. “To see it, to just see all of time of space, _with you_ , privilege enough.”

A flash, so brief the Doctor wasn’t even sure. The briefest of images, the Master - _blonde_?- standing over him. He was tied down. Wilf in sight just over the Master’s shoulder, but the Doctor, because he was the Doctor, two heartbeats and everything. The Doctor only had eyes for the Master.

And then he was back in the board room, the Master staring at him wide-eyed. “That was...odd,” he said.

“What did you-?” the Doctor began, but was interrupted as Rose stepped into the room.

“They’re back,” she said shortly and left again. The Master was after her in little more than a blink of an eye. The odd moment before, their conversation, the Doctor himself all forgotten in the face of the fob watch. The Doctor supposed he couldn’t blame him really, but it stung none the less as he trailed up into the main hub after the Master.

“Give it to me,” the Master demanded when he reached the group. His hand outstretched toward Ianto. Ianto looked hesitant.

“What did you do to me?” he asked.

“Nothing, a little subliminal suggestion,” he snapped. “Give me that,” he demanded again and stepped forward. Ianto pulled his gun.

“Ianto,” Rose said warningly. “Let’s not let things get out of hand.”

“He barely even realises he’s doing it half the time,” the Doctor lied. The Master glanced at him briefly, sly but grateful. “Give it to me, I’ll look after it,” he offered.

“You’ll just give it straight to him!” Ianto retorted.

“I won’t, not yet anyway, I promise.” The Master shot him an angry look but stayed quiet. Maybe he thought the Doctor was just playing along, that he would hand it straight over no matter what he said to Ianto.

“Why would you do that?” Ianto asked suspiciously.

“He’s human at the moment, a bit of hay in a massive haystack. If he opens that watch it’ll be sticking a bright flashing target on his head for the Time Lords to find,” the Doctor explained.

“We’ll be long gone before they get here,” the Master argued. “If you would just hand that over,” he growled at Ianto.

“Can you fix the ship as you are now?” Rose asked. “Human?”

“He can,” the Doctor answered because he knew the Master wouldn’t. Rose nodded.

“Then give it to the Doctor, Ianto.”

“Are you sure?” he asked.

“Yes, give it to him.”

The Doctor felt a jolt as he closed his hands around the warm metal. It felt familiar, different, and amazing all at once. He slipped it into the inside pocket of his suit jacket.

“Now what?” Hart asked.

“Now, we fix the Master’s Tardis,” the Doctor responded after a moment of silence during which the Master continued to glare at him.

As one each terminal began to blare at them shrilly. Rose darted over to the nearest one, “It’s a ship.”

The Master walked over and looked over her shoulder, “Judoon. Didn’t we just get rid of them?” he asked lightly.

“UNIT is picking up an energy build-up in the ship,” Ianto reported from where he’d pulled up a chair at another work station.

A few moments later the Doctor was blinking up at the ceiling of the basement, coughing up dust. The ground shook with aftershocks of what he assumed had been the impact of the Judoon’s weapons fire.

“Brilliant,” he heard the Master mutter, just before half the ceiling caved in. 

* * *

 **BANISHED TO ERIS**

His ears rang, everything was loud but muffled at the same time and he hurt _everywhere_.

“Doctor!” he distantly heard Rose call , as if through walls and layers of cotton wool.  But where was she?  He moved slightly before he realised he had yet to open his eyes.  The air was dry and gritty and he coughed as he tried to push himself up, only to fall back down again head spinning.

“Doctor!” she shouted again, maybe only two cotton wool walled rooms away now.  He groaned; he had never felt less like the Doctor than he did now.  All these months walking the slow path; working, eating, sleeping and with just the one heart beating.  He’d managed it all, but how did humans do this?  How did they bounce back from this sort of pain without a Time Lord’s regenerative powers, or ability to close off certain pain receptors briefly, without that second heart to pump blood to where it’s needed if the other has been winded?

He felt a rough hand on his forehead, desperate hands run down his body in quick pats.  “John,” a familiar voice murmured.  The frantic movements paused for a second, one hand moved up to brush through his hair briefly.

He breathed a sigh of relief.  The Master was here.  They’d be fine; he would be fine.  But as soon as he relaxed into the caress the Master withdrew it and began his frenzied movements again.

Just as he began to wonder what the Master was doing he felt Rose drop down beside him.  “Doctor, are you okay?” she asked.  But he barely heard her. 

The Master’s movements had slowed; he reached inside the Doctor’s pocket and withdrew the fob watch.  The Doctor heard the audible sigh of relief and the shuffle of fabric and stone and shoes on uneven ground as the Master got up and stepped away.  He had what he wanted and now he was gone and John was left lying on the floor alone.

“Doctor?” Rose asked again.  One of her hands gripped his arm, the other brushed over his cheeks.  Wiping away tears he realised, having belatedly recognised the sting of his eyes for what it was.

“I’m fine,” he answered, finally successful in opening his eyes he recognised her presence and squinted up at her.  She was beautiful, and she looked at him as if the world might end if he wasn’t fine.  Why was he doing this again?  Abandoning Rose for a man whose attention he could only hope to hold for tiny and sporadic fractions of time.

Admittedly for those moments he was the sole focus of that wonderful, insane attention.  And it was _the Master_.  And even though his heart felt like it was tearing itself apart inside his chest he couldn’t just let him go.

“You’re bleeding,” she said and touched her hand to his temple.  It came away sticky and he noted that perhaps that dull throbbing in his head might be attributed to a head injury.

The Doctor pushed himself up with some effort.  “I’ll be fine,” he said again to Rose.

“You’re head is bleeding, you idiot,” she responded angrily.  He narrowed his eyes at her but didn’t respond, his attention quickly moved to watch the Master run round the room.

“Sir,” Ianto said, grateful as the Master pulled him to his feet.

“Find a terminal that’s working,” the Master replied shortly.

“Yes sir,” he said already headed toward the nearest intact consol, all previous disagreements momentarily forgotten.

“Where’s Captain Hart?” Rose asked.  A muffled groan and the shifting of some rubble was her answer.

“This one’s working sir,” Ianto told the Master who jumped over stones and debris to Ianto’s side; he gave the computer a once over with the sonic screwdriver before he pushed Ianto out of the way.

“Go and help your boyfriend,” he muttered.  Ianto looked mutinous, but headed toward the shifting debris that partially covered Hart.

“Come on,” Rose said and held out a hand to him.  The Doctor took it and let her help him to his feet.  His head swam for a second but Rose held on tight and prevented him from falling again.  “You okay?” she asked.

“Yeah, yeah, give me a minute,” he replied, eyes still squeezed shut.  At the Masters bark of laughter his eyes snapped open.  “What?” he called, and gingerly made his way through the rubble toward the Master, Rose hot on his heels.

“They want the weapons,” the Master said with a snort.  “They don’t care about me; have dismissed you as my bit on the side-”

“What?” Rose asked sharply.  “Why?”

The Doctor rolled his eyes at himself.  “Genetic transference, why didn’t I think of that?  We could have blamed the readings on you and I having been, you know...” he waved his hand about a bit.  “I used that to trick a Judoon once.  It worked, think it might’ve given Martha the wrong idea though.”

Rose and the Master both suddenly frowned at him.  “What?”

“Who’s Martha?” the Master asked.

“You were with her?” Rose asked.

“No, just that one peck, nothing else,” he explained quickly.  There was a pause where they both frowned some more.  “The weapons?” he prompted.

“Right we just need to hand them over then they’ll wander off back to wherever and we’re home free,” the Master grinned.

“We can’t do that, that’s Time Lord technology,” the Doctor protested.

“You’ve a point I suppose,” the Master crossed his arms and hmm’d contemplatively.  “And they might come in useful,” he added.

“For what?” Rose asked suspiciously.

“Oh you know the usual,” the Master gave her a maniacal grin.  Maybe it was the head injury, the situation or his current stupid _human_ emotional torment but the Doctor couldn’t really bring himself to care at the moment, despite the glance Rose aimed at him.

“That’s why the Time Lords are coming,” Ianto said from behind them, where he’d pulled a semi-conscious John Hart from the rubble and propped him up against another fairly stable looking pile of rubble.  “They don’t know about him or at least don’t care,” he waved his hand at the Doctor.  “They know about the weapons.”

“They know I’m here, on the same planet as a large cache of Time Lord weaponry, which was claimed by someone of Time Lord lineage.” The Master raised his eyebrows at Ianto, “Very good Mr Jones.”

“Is this good or bad?” Rose asked.

“It’s very good, very very good,” the Master answered.

“For me it is,” the Doctor said.

“Like I said, it’s good,” the Master smiled at him fleetingly.  “When we escape it means they won’t be hunting us down with any more vigour than they would hunt me usually.”

“Because they won’t know about me,” the Doctor agreed.  “But it doesn’t help us right now does it?”

The Master shrugged dismissively.  “We’ll just sneak off whilst they fight among themselves.  Piece of cake.”

“The Time Lords aren’t even here yet!  The Judoon could destroy the entire planet before they get here!”

“Even if the Time Lords were here, who knows how many innocent people would get caught in the crossfire?” Rose interjected.  The Doctor felt a stab of guilt in his stomach, he hadn’t even thought about that.

“You’re right; we might not make it to the Tardis before the Judoon’s fingers get itchy on the giant red button.  So...” he span round and tapped his fingers restlessly against his thigh, the other hand was still clenched tight around the fob watch.  “So what if we move the weapons, off the planet, not too far.  We could keep them in the solar system.  Mars maybe?”

“Not far enough.  Eris,” the Doctor responded.

“The personification of strife and discord?” the Master asked with a raised eyebrow.  “Oh dear,” he tutted.

“Eris?” Rose questioned.

“Furthest currently known dwarf planet in this solar system,” Ianto told her.

“Sounds good, how do we get the weapons there?” Rose asked.

“Hart’s wrist strap should do nicely,” the Master said and held his hand out expectantly.  Ianto handed the wrist strap to him.

“It can go that far?” the Doctor asked.

“If it can’t, I’ll make it.”

“Won’t one of us need to go with it?  I doubt there’s a breathable atmosphere on Eris?” Rose asked.

“One of us only needs to go if we want this back,” the Master told her, indicating the device he held.

“So we can just send it on its own,” Ianto surmised.  He glanced over at Hart.  “Good thing he’s mostly unconscious at the moment.”

“Hmm,” the Master nodded as he wrapped the strap round his wrist, he slipped the fob watch carefully into his inside pocket before he pressed a few buttons on the screen in quick succession and disappeared.

“What-?” Ianto took a step forward.

“He’ll be back,” the Doctor said, leant wearily against a nearby still standing desk.

“John, he has the watch.  Why hasn’t he used it?” Ianto asked curiously.

“Good question,” he shrugged in response.  “Probably because he realised I was right, he will be easier to find if he uses it now.”  The Doctor laughed to himself.

“What?” Rose asked.

“My Master, the one in our universe, he wouldn’t have given it a second thought, wouldn’t have listened to reason or me.  He’d have just used it to change back,” he answered.

“Why?” Ianto asked.

The Doctor closed his eyes for a moment thinking of the Valiant, or the Master dancing, of Lucy’s bruised face, the Tardis, the Toclofane.  And a flash of the Master laughing maniacally, hundreds of him laughing. 

The Doctor frowned and looked up at Ianto and Rose.  “Because he was mad.”

“Madder than this?” Rose asked incredulously.

“You can’t begin to imagine...” he trailed off.  “This man, this Master... he’s saner than I am.”

He was saved a response to that comment by the reappearance of the man in question with a familiar looking chest at his feet.  He removed the strap from his wrist and laid it down on the top of the chest

“What are you doing?” the Doctor asked as the Master pulled out the sonic screwdriver.

“Attaching it more securely and making it send out a scrambling signal.  They’ll be able to tell it’s on one of the dwarf planets but not which one,” he told the Doctor and smiled smugly over his shoulder.

“Clever,” he commented.  The Master just raised his eyebrows, a reprimand to the Doctor for thinking otherwise.

He pressed a few more buttons and the chest dematerialised in front of them.

“Now what?”  Ianto asked.

“Now we get out of here,” the Master grinned and took off for the thankfully still intact exit; the Doctor darted after him and heard Rose and Ianto at his heels.

On their way out they passed a thoroughly bewildered Owen.  “What the bloody hell-?”

“There’s a Judoon ship in orbit after some weapons Mr Saxon just sent to one of the dwarf planets.  Get rid of them,” the Doctor heard Ianto shout to him as he ran past.

“Get rid of them?!  How the hell am I supposed to do that Ianto?!” Owen shouted as the door closed behind them.

* * *

 **DANGEROUS DRIVING**

The Master drove the Torchwood jeep faster than Ianto had thought actually possible, but then again he had seen a glimpse of that sonic device as they had jumped in.

He and Rose had been on the receiving end of a nasty glare from the Master and an uneasy glance from Mr Smith but neither had thrown them out of the vehicle.  As such Ianto was there when Owen’s agitated voice came over the comm.

“ _Would anyone like to tell me why the hell John-bleeding-Hart is in the base?”_ he bellowed.  The passengers all winced as the speakers whined in protest at the volume.

“I’ll explain later,” Ianto told him.

“ _Explain later?  I’d rather you explained now actually considering he has a gun pointed at my head and is fiddling with the comms._ ,” he shouted.

“Shit,” Ianto cursed.

“ _Oh that’s right, don’t think you can just hand over my property to someone else to send to the other side of the solar system without some retribution Eye Candy_ ,” Hart snarled.

“Could you please have your lovers tiff somewhere where I don’t have to listen to it?” the Master grumbled from the driver’s seat as he took a corner so sharply; narrowly missing a large group of pedestrians.  Rose and Mr Smith shouted in alarm.  “Turn that thing off,” the Master growled at Mr Smith.

“ _Stuck again on this stupid backwater planet_ ,” Hart was grumbling through the comm.

“That’s right you’re stuck here!” Ianto snapped.  “Maybe you can try and get rid of those Judoon ships!”

“ _What do you think I’m trying to do you prat?_ ” Hart snapped back.  Ianto pictured Hart’s face and glared for all he was worth.

“Get on with it then.  Owen, help him,” he said shortly.

“ _Ianto_ -”

“Just do it!” Ianto shouted just as the Master hit the horn with his fist.

“Get out of the road!” he shouted.

“This is the pavement!” Rose protested.

“ _Judoon ships_ ,” Hart’s voice could be heard over the speaker, echoing strangely.

“He’s broadcasting,” Rose said quietly.

“ _Acknowledged_ ,” the booming voice of a Judoon answered.

“ _The weapons have been transported to one of the dwarf planets of this solar system; please leave this planet’s atmosphere.   This planet is no longer a part of any dispute.”_

“Not bad,” Ianto heard Mr Smith murmur from the front seat.  They swerved round another corner and Ianto narrowly avoided crushing Rose against the car door.

“ _Which planet_?” the Judoon demanded.

“ _We don’t know.  The technology on this planet is not sophisticated enough to scan that far.  Scavenged transportation technology was used to send the weapons_ ,” Hart responded.  He hesitated on the word scavenged and Ianto imagined he had wanted to say ‘stolen.’

“ _Which planet_?” the Judoon asked again.

“ _I can’t tell you_!” Hart responded.

“ _Tell us which planet or we will begin destroying cities_.”

Mr Smith sat forward and punched the comm. button on the dashboard.  “If you do not vacate the atmosphere of this planet immediately you can be sure this incident will be reported to the Shadow Proclamation, and I don’t think they’d be happy about you destroying parts of this planet when you could just as easily go and scan the outer dwarf planets yourselves!”

There was a pause, during which the Master ran another two red lights.

“What happened?” Rose asked.

“ _They terminated the transmission,_ ” Owen answered.

“ _They’re leaving orbit_ ,” Hart added.  They heard Owen cheer and then the sound of a fist hitting flesh.  “ _Ow_!”

“ _Pull a gun on me?  I don’t think so_!”

Ianto and Rose shared a grin.

“ _Get your arses back here and help me clean up_ ,” Owen snapped and closed the comm. as they pulled onto the green in the middle of parliament square.

“This isn’t designed for parking, sir,” Ianto said as they jumped out of the jeep.

 

“I’m Prime Minister, I can park where I want,” he said dismissively, ignoring the incredulous looks of the people milling around the square.

They darted across the road and stopped on the curb.

“Which one is it?” Mr Smith asked.

“Good question,” the Master said, looking up and down the road at the phone box on every corner.

“ _Ianto_ ,” Owen’s voice spoke in his ear.  “ _We’ve got incoming, another ship_ ”

“There’s another ship approaching,” Ianto told them.

“Time Lords,” Smith put his hand over his mouth.  “Come on, it’ll be quicker if we split up,” he said and darted down the road.  Rose hesitated but did the same, heading for a different phone box.  Ianto and the Master followed suit.

***

Rose let the door of one phone box fall shut as she darted up the road to the next.  The Master was closer, he would get there first.  Behind her she could hear the Doctor running to catch up with her.  Or, most likely, he was intending to run pass her to catch up with the Master.

Why was she doing this?  Why was she helping him get away?  But the answer was easy, it was the same reason Mickey had always come running to help when she asked.

She picked up her pace when she saw the grin that nearly consumed the Master’s face as he pulled open the door to the phone box.  She heard the Doctor laugh happily as he raced past her.

He had almost reached the Tardis door when the ground shook and people started screaming around them.  Rose glanced up; the sky was obscured by a large ship.

“Is that-?” Ianto panted out as he drew to a stop by the Doctor at the same time Rose did.

“Time Lords,” the Doctor said.

“It’s big,” Rose commented, glancing at the Tardis and back up at the ship.

“Hmm, it is a bit showy.”

“What are you doing you morons?” the Master demanded, opening the Tardis door.  “Get in here!”

“All of us?” Rose asked.

“Temporarily, yes,” he hustled them all in.

Ianto looked around for a moment, Rose watched for his reaction; out of the corner of her eye she could see the Doctor doing the same.  “Roomy,” he said at last.

“Is that it?” she asked quietly.

“Not the strangest thing I’ve ever seen,” he shrugged.

“Can we focus on the matter at hand please?” the Master demanded from the console in the centre of the room.  It was very similar to the Doctor’s Tardis, a little less rustic though.  “We need to get rid of them,” he said urgently.

“They’re probably scanning for Time Lord life signs, give it a minute,” the Doctor said soothingly, patting the Master’s arm.

“ _They’re trying to talk to us Ianto_ ,” Rose heard Owen tell Ianto over the earpiece.

“Put them through to me,” Ianto said.

“ _Hand over the weapons cache and Harold Saxon and this planet will not be harmed_.” Rose watched the Master press a few buttons causing the voice to play through the Tardis speakers.

“The weapons were transported to one of the dwarf planets in this solar system, the Judoon have already headed that way,” Ianto answered.

There was a pause, “ _And Saxon?_ ”

“The prime minister went missing this morning,” Ianto bluffed.  “No one has seen or heard from him, it’s like he disappeared off the face of the planet.”

“ _They cut transmission.  These aliens are bloody rude aren’t they?_ ” Owen commented.

“The ship is moving out of orbit,” the Doctor reported off of one of the screens.

“Brilliant,” the Master grinned.  “Out you get then,” he said and tried to usher Rose and Ianto toward the door.  “Places to go, people to see.”

Rose looked at the Doctor, he opened his mouth to say something but Ianto cried out beside her and fell to the ground.

* * *

 **UNIVERSES COLLIDE**

“None of that now,” the Master tutted.  Ianto continued to clutch his head and groan.  The Master nudged him with his foot.

“Get off him,” Rose crouched down beside Ianto.  “What is it?”  He only moaned more and curled up tighter.

“Oh for-” the Master grumbled and began rooting around under the control console, he pulled out a small device and aimed it at Ianto.  “It’s a scanner,” he said pre-empting Rose's protest.  “Oh dear,” he murmured a moment later.

The Doctor leaned over his shoulder; Rose let her mind gloss over how closely he leaned.  “That’s very bad,” he said and took the scanner from the Master before he held it against each of them in turn.  “Very very bad.”

“It’s not just Ianto?” Rose asked.

“No, it’s everyone,” the Master said.

“Everyone?” Rose frowned.  Ianto had quietened and now blinked up at them, forehead still creased in a pained frown.

“Everyone on earth,” the Doctor said.  He looked down at the device in his hands and back at her.  “On both Earth’s.”

“What did you see?” the Master asked Ianto.

“Flashes of people, memories maybe?  Owen was there and...”

“Jack?” the Doctor asked.

“Yes, and Gwen and Tosh...  How do I know them?  I feel like I know them.”

“This is not good,” the Master muttered.  He threw the machine the Doctor had been holding back under the console and started pressing buttons.  The Tardis lurched for a moment.

“Those flashes we had earlier?” the Doctor asked quietly.

“Exactly.  Someone needs to fix this, and I have a horrible feeling you’re going to insist it should be us.”

The Doctor grinned.  That was practically yes to a question he hadn’t even had to ask.  Maybe this would work out fine.

“What’s going on?” Rose demanded as the engines stopped whirring.

“Your universe and this one are converging,” the Master said.  “They were never meant to be split the way they were and now it looks like they’re collapsing in on each other.”

“We’ll have to check one of the rifts to be sure,” the Doctor said.  “But this is very bad.”

“Why?” Rose asked.

“We can’t just fit back together again,” the Master rolled his eyes.  “The universes are too different now; different paths taken by billions of people.  The pieces don’t fit.”“So what’s going to happen?” Ianto asked.

“They’ll both be destroyed,” the Doctor said.

“Actually, I think you’ll find that we are going to save the day, the world, the universe!”  The Master grinned.  “Right up your alley,” he smirked at the Doctor.  “Just a little bit of restructuring on the rifts, figure out if anything else is causing the collapse and then a party!” he jumped around the other side of the console and started to prod furiously at buttons and study the screens closely.

“Was it us?” Rose asked.  “Is it our fault?”

“Oh,” the Doctor paused and looked slightly guilty.  “Maybe, all that back and forth between parallel universes, might have had a negative effect.”

“Might have?” the Master snorted.

“What can we do?” Ianto asked as he pulled himself to his feet.

“Nothing yet, we’ll need to scan the Cardiff rift, from both sides,” the Doctor said.  He wandered round to where the Master was working and glanced at the screens.

“Actually there is something you can do,” the Master looked up at them.  “Leave.”

The Doctor pinched him.

“Well they aren’t coming with us are they?” the Master looked up, eyebrows raised.

“Where are you going?” Ianto asked.

“Cardiff, there’s a rift in Cardiff,” Rose recalled.

“Well we can come with you then.  There’s a Torchwood base in Cardiff, we can use some of the facilities there to help,” Ianto said.

“We’re not going to _this_ Cardiff,” the Master said.

“That’s not the entire truth is it?” the Doctor asked.  “A short stop off there to refuel and determine the weakest point in the rift to travel through will be necessary.”

The Master glared at him.  “A short stop off where I may kick every one of you out of my Tardis, might also be _necessary_ ,” he said pointedly.

“Right,” the Doctor said shortly.  That was a dismissal if ever he heard one.  The Master had either changed his mind or never intended to really take him with him.  “Let’s go,” he said quietly to Ianto and Rose and hustled them toward the door.

The Master sighed dramatically seconds before the Tardis jumped in to flight.  “Really John, you’ll need to be thicker skinned than that when you’re travelling with me.”  He held out his hand and the Doctor rushed over to him and took it.

The Master placed their joined hands over a button, “Cardiff here we come,” he said and grinned at the Doctor as they span the Tardis through the sky toward Wales.

* * *

 **OFF TO SAVE THE UNIVERSE**

“What are they doing?”  Suzie Costello, the only permanent employee currently stationed at Torchwood Three had come up to the Rhoald Dahl plas where Rose was watching the Doctor and the Master run around the Tardis where it was parked with various unrecognisable pieces of technology and a palpable sense of frenzied excitement.

“They’re taking readings of the rift,” Rose told her without looking away.  Suzie had nodded along to the explanation they’d provided on arrival, and on Ianto and Rose’s word had let the Doctor fumble around with the Torchwood Three equipment in the hub.

“Well, we’re getting some very interesting readings.  What they mean I’m not quite sure,” she laughed.  “But they’re interesting all the same.”

“Good,” Rose gave her a tight smile.  The Master and Doctor had darted back inside the Tardis and the plas was quiet again.

“The upgrades Mr Smith did have enabled us to scan to the edge of the solar system,” Suzie told her.

“The ships?” Rose asked, attention finally focused on the woman next to her.

“Just one now, the Judoon are nowhere to be seen.  I suppose the Time Lords must have frightened them off.”

“Keep an eye on that ship.  Let us know if it does anything,” Rose told her.

“Will do,” she smiled.  Rose watched her disappear as she stepped onto the lift and then turned and walked toward the Tardis.

She pushed the door open and stepped inside.  The Tardis was surprisingly quiet apart from the background hum or the machine itself.

The Doctor and the Master were standing by the centre of the ship.  Rose almost stepped back out again as she took in the close press of their bodies against each other, but curiosity kept her still. 

The Master had the Doctor’s face in his hands, their foreheads pressed together.  He was whispering something too quietly for Rose to hear.  He took one of his hands away and reached in to his pocket.  The Doctor’s eyes snapped open as the Master pulled out the fob watch.

“Now?” he asked.  The Master grinned and took a step back, the Doctor’s hands clutched air for a minute before they fell to his sides.

“Oh yes,” the Master replied and flipped the watch open.  Bright, blinding light that Rose had seen twice before consumed him.  The Doctor was thrown to the floor as the light burned brighter.

Rose wondered briefly if she should have stopped this.  The Doctor said the Master in their universe had been completely mad, what if this man was only more stable due to the chameleon arch? What if the change unbalanced him and he became the man the Doctor’s eyes had described far too clearly even where his words hadn’t?

As the light dissipated the Master drew up straight and gasped, hands on his chest.  He seemed to be searching for his double heart beat.  Presumably successful he turned to the Doctor and laughed happily as he pulled him to his feet.

He pulled the Doctor to him sharply and kissed him.  This wasn’t the more tame press of lips she’d witnessed earlier at Number Ten.  This was tongue, gasped breaths and the Doctor’s hands under the Master’s shirt; Rose resisted contemplating where the Master’s hands had disappeared to.

She stumbled backwards and out of the Tardis, the door snapped shut behind her.

*** 

Quick footsteps on metal caught the Doctor’s attention and he pulled away from the Master enough to watch Rose flee out of the Tardis door.

“Rose,” he murmured.

“Should I be insulted?” the Master said into his neck and followed it up with a press of lips and the slightest nip of teeth.

The Doctor groaned and let the Master pull him more fully against him, the Time Lord double heart beat thundering in the Master’s chest reverberated against the Doctor’s own single racing one.

Regretfully, the Doctor pulled the Master’s wandering hands away from his person.  “Rose was here, she saw us.”

“So?” the Master said grumpily, his hand had snuck back to rest on the Doctors hip.  “It’s nothing she doesn’t know about, or hasn’t seen before.”

“She deserves better than this,” the Doctor told him.  “I’ll be right back,” he said, pulled away completely and walked towards the Tardis door.

“You’d better be, if you expect me to still be here!” the Master shouted as the Doctor closed the door behind him.

“Rose!” he called as he jogged across the plas to where she was standing.  She looked up at him with a weary smile.  “I’m sorry Rose-”

“Don’t its fine,” she said shortly.

“It’s not okay, or fine Rose.  I know that,” he paused to gauge the look on her face.  “But I’m going to stop apologising now,” he said with a small smile.

“Are you going?” she asked a moment later.

“Soon,” he nodded.

“The Time Lord ship is still nearby,” she told him.

“Very soon then.”  He looked at her for a long moment.  At the sound of footsteps behind her Rose turned to watch Ianto walk toward them.  When she turned back to face the Doctor she was smiling.

“I’ll be fine, I’ve managed without you before,” she said.  “Come here.”  She pulled him into a bear hug that reminded him of her and the Doctor’s travels past.

“Everything’s set up on our end,” he said as she pulled back.  “You should be able to communicate from Torchwood Three to the Tardis through the rift if you need to.”

“Take care of yourself,” she said, her eyes serious.  He glanced over his shoulder when her gaze shifted and saw the Master stood in the doorway of the Tardis.

“I’ll be fine,” he assured her.  He pressed a quick dry kiss to her cheek before he turned round and jogged to the Tardis.

The Master ducked inside as the Doctor reached the door.  He turned round one last time; Ianto and Rose stood shoulder to shoulder.  Ianto raised his hand in farewell and Rose smiled.  He waved back and said goodbye with them to the Doctor; he stepped into the Tardis John Smith.

* * *

The Master stepped back from the engine controls and gestured for John to step forward.  He put his hand on the lever that would send them spinning through the rift.

“Are you ready?” John asked with raised eyebrows.

“For what?” the Master asked.

“To save the universe!”  John threw the switch.  The Master’s groan and John’s own laugh of delight were drowned out as the engines jumped to life and propelled them together into another universe.

 **END**

 **This series continues with Data Compression**


End file.
